Summer Ready!

As we begin the summer season, we are excited to share upcoming programs, community highlights, and resources to support all of our residents. Thank you for your continued partnership and support of Extension programs across Granville County!

- Selena McKoy, NC Cooperative Extension Director - Granville

Family Consumer Sciences (FCS)

Jennifer Brown, Area Agent

Logistics are still being worked out for the FCS position in Granville County. So, if there are any specific questions or concerns that come up, please forward those to the Granville County Extension Director, Selena McKoy at sdmckoy@ncsu.edu until further notice.

One More Workshop!

Food and Built Environment

Wendy Tatum, Local Foods Coordinator

Great things are happening this season at the Oxford Armory Farmers Market at 105 West Spring Street, Oxford, NC. On opening day, we welcomed 465 visitors to the market. Fresh strawberries and greens filled the vendor booths, creating a beautiful start to the season. Chef Kyle Wilkerson and the students from Vance-Granville Culinary Arts Program prepared amazing strawberry dishes that visitors praised as rustic, wholesome, and delicious.

On May 9, the market participated in both the weekly market and CultureFest. Vendors set up at the market before heading to CultureFest at noon. We also enjoyed spending time with the teens from the Youth Leadership Council, a 4-H initiative that continues to make a positive impact in our community.

Attendance has remained strong, with approximately 460 people visiting the market each week. On May 16, we hosted Craft Saturday and enjoyed a beautiful sunny day. Although the summer heat made its early appearance, visitors still enjoyed browsing fresh vegetables, blueberries, and handmade crafts while spending time outdoors with neighbors and friends. We are a WIC market this year and we will continue to accept the Senior Farmers Market Nutrition Program once the program begins on July 1. Several vendors also accept EBT, if in doubt ask someone at the NC Cooperative Extension booth or one of the board members who can be found wearing bright green, yellow or orange T-shirts. We also recently began utilizing our grant from Triangle North Healthcare Foundation. These funds are helping fill refrigerators in libraries across Granville County with fresh produce purchased directly from our market farmers, expanding access to healthy local food throughout the community.

The market is also excited to welcome a new market manager, Carla Spain. Carla recently retired from the Bureau of Prisons and is married with three children and one granddaughter. Many local residents know her from her years doing hair in Creedmoor. In her free time, Carla enjoys traveling, reading, attending church, and spending time with her mother and sister. Her diverse professional experience, training, and dedication to community service make her a wonderful addition to the market team.

Livestock & Forages

Kim Woods, Area Agent, Agriculture - Animal Science

Disaster Assistance for 2026 Livestock Forage Losses

Emergency Forage Options

Below article excerpted from Dr. Chris Teutsch, May 2026 Cow Country News, https://issuu.com/cowcountrynews/docs/cow_country_news-_may_2026. 

Many of you have experienced limited first cutting hay production, and typically 50% of total seasonal yield comes from the first cutting. Our area is currently listed in a D3, Extreme Drought. Even if we were to get normal precipitation moving forward, cool season grasses will not grow much as we move into the summer months.

Since we are quickly moving into summer, our emergency forage options should focus on warm-season species. These are more efficient at photosynthesis in high temperatures and at utilizing limited water resources in summer months. Below are some warm season annual forage options.

• Sudangrass - rapidly growing; medium-yielding; well suited for grazing (multiple times); regrows quickly; finer stems; suitable for hay

• Sorghum-sudangrass hybrids - cross of forage sorghum & sudangrass; coarser stems, taller growth habit, and higher yields than sudangrass; will regrow; course stems make haying difficult. 

• Foxtail (German) millet - fine stemmed; no prussic acid potential; good for hay; does not regrow after cutting; good for wildlife 

• Pearl millet - not related to foxtail millet; no prussic acid potential; higher yielding; regrows after cutting; not a host of the sugarcane aphid; dwarf varieties are leafier and better suited for grazing

• Crabgrass - no prussic acid potential; not a sugarcane aphid host; highly palatable; high quality; prolific reseeder; best utilized by grazing 

• Sunn hemp -quick growing summer annual legume; upright growth habit; works well in mixes with sorghum species and pearl millet. 

• Soybeans - utilized a hay or silage when grain potential reduced from drought, hail or early frost; realistic forage yield ~1.5-2 tons of dry matter per acre

Pond Clinic

5-County Beef Tour

Join us on Tuesday, June 16th for the 2026 Historic 5-County BEEF Tour in Franklin County! We are carpooling to three innovative beef cattle farms, both large and small, that are participating in the Southeastern US Regenerative Agriculture Project. There will be lots of networking, but also use of NEW TECHNOLOGY for the cattle producer, demonstrations (grazing forages, rainfall simulator), and expert insights designed to help your farm thrive.

We’ve packed the day with the latest in agricultural tech and management strategies:

• Nutritional Efficiency: Learn how to maximize your herd's performance while managing costs. Grazing efficiency using the “grazing forage stick”, one free per family.
• Forage & Drones: See how drone technology is changing the game for pasture management, heat checks, etc. See a live demonstration using the forage rainfall simulator.
• Virtual Fencing: Explore the future of grazing without the wire.
• Trade Show during lunch: new Hay Equipment, Seed companies, “No Fence” company, Farm Conservation and more.
• Lunch speaker: Regenerative Agriculture and Programs Available.

Don’t miss this opportunity to network with fellow producers and see the latest beef industry tech in action. Fee includes a includes a delicious lunch meal.

Registration is required. Cost: $30 per person fee to attend and participate with lunch. Deadline to register is Friday, June 12th. Register at the following link.  go.ncsu.edu/2026-5-county-beef-tour

For more information, contact the N.C. Cooperative Extension, Franklin County Center, 919-496-3344, Agricultural Extension Agent, Martha Mobley, martha_mobley@ncsu.edu .

See you in Franklin County on June 16th! Brochure & tour map coming soon.

Nitrates in Drought Forages

With the dry weather we have been experiencing, there is a chance that some of the forages on your farm, whether pasture or hay, may be high in nitrates. This can happen when fertilizer is applied but the rains never come for the plant to fully utilize that fertilizer. Some plants are more prone to high nitrate issues than others. Additionally, utilizing small grains for forages may be on the minds of some as those crops are likely not to have a very good grain yield. So, using them as forages may be a way to salvage the crop to some extent. With the chance of high nitrates, it is recommended to have the forages tested at the NC Department of Agriculture Forage Lab. Hay, fresh forage or silage/baleage can be tested. If you want to test for nitrates only, there is no charge for that. A complete analysis can be performed for $10 per sample and that would include nutritional levels of the forage along with nitrates. Call or email with any questions you have, kdwoods@ncsu.edu .

Keeping Tractor Safety Top of Mind

Not much gets done on the farm today without a tractor, but working around tractors can result in some of the most serious injuries or deaths on the farm if care is not taken. John Shutske, Agricultural Safety and Health Specialist with University of Wisconsin Extension, says tractor rollovers remain the leading cause of death in tractor accidents. “Thanks to the rollover protective structure or ROPS, we’ve made a lot of progress compared to when I was a young farm safety specialist, we’ve seen a dramatic reduction in farm fatalities, and that’s largely because of rollover protection. At the same time, we still see a lot of tractors out there without ROPS. Tractors can roll over either sideways, which typically involves either, you know, rough terrain, people hit a rut or they drive over a stump or a rock or, more often, a slope. Any slope that’s greater than, I would say, 12 to 15 degrees is potentially dangerous.”

Shutske warns another major area of concern involves PTO entanglements. “We still do see these incidents. Even though they are fewer and they’re further between, we don’t see as many per year, when they do happen, people underestimate how incredibly powerful. Even something like a, you know, a 45 horsepower utility tractor, you compare that to me as a typical human being, I can generate about a tenth of a horsepower when I’m out there working. If you become entangled with that piece of equipment, if it’s a piece of clothing, if it’s the string from like a hoodie, if I start to get wrapped up, I actually begin to rotate with that shield.”

Shutske says the most common kind of lost-time work injuries are falls which occur when getting on and off equipment. “If you fall just a couple feet, yeah, you could sprain ankles, you could break legs when you’re getting on and off that equipment. We always talk about three points of contact. By going from two to three you increase your stability by 50% and if you do slip or fall, you’ve got some additional points of balance. We always want to think about a three-legged stool and it’s exactly the same when you’re getting onto and off of equipment. It’s tempting if you’re in a hurry to jump that second or third step from the top and that’s when we see the sprained ankles and the torn ACLs.”

4-H Youth Development

Lina Howe, Extension Agent

4-H County Activity Day

We had a fantastic County Activity Day on May 16th! 7 youth presented and did amazing! All are advancing to district activity day in June, Congratulations!

• Atlas Travis

• Logan Quintas

• Grace Allred 

• Zach Maciejewski

• Harper Brannigan

• Lia Diefendorf

• Addison Galloway

Enjoy a few pictures of the day!

4-H Poultry

It was chick day at the 4-H office May 28th! Our Poultry Show project started, culminating in October at our show and sale

4-H Summer Camp

The Summer Fun has started! If you want any information or have questions contact Lina Howe, lina_howe@ncsu.edu or visit our website at https://granville.ces.ncsu.edu/news/2026-granville-county-4-h-summer-fun/

Consumer/Commercial Horticulture

Johnny Coley, Area Agent - Agriculture

Pesticide Recertification Credits for Private Applicators

Small Farms Field Day

Cooperative Extension at N.C. A&T invites growers, producers and community partners to a full day of practical, research-based education focused on production practices and farm management. Small Farms Field Day brings together farmers, researchers, and educators for a day of practical demonstrations and knowledge-sharing at North Carolina A&T State University. From sustainable horticulture and hoop house livestock management to seed giveaways and critical first aid training, the event highlighted solutions tailored to the real challenges facing small farmers.

Discover the innovations, insights, and takeaways shaping the future of small farming in North Carolina.

• 9:00 a.m.–3:30 p.m. Thursday, June 11, 2026

• University Farm Pavilion, Greensboro, NC

• Registration is required by June 1 at https://bit.ly/4tLGzwt

As we welcome the start of summer here in Granville County, we encourage you to stay connected, stay curious, and take advantage of the many programs, resources, and opportunities available through our office. Whether you’re growing a garden, supporting youth development, improving your health, or strengthening your farm or community, we are here to help. Thank you for being part of our Extension family, and we look forward to serving you throughout the season ahead!

For more information and event updates, visit our website at https://granville.ces.ncsu.edu/

NC State University and N.C. A&T State University work in tandem, along with federal, state and local governments, to form a strategic partnership called N.C. Cooperative Extension.

This institution is an equal opportunity provider.

N.C. Cooperative Extension - Granville County, 125 Oxford Loop Rd, Oxford, NC 27565, United States
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